Nokia Lumia 920 promises PureView, but it’s no 808

Nokia has announced the Lumia 920, the next generation of its phones to wear the 'PureView' branding but, despite the name, the camera technology isn't up to the standard of the 808 PureView. Rather than the 808's 41MP, 1/1.2" sensor, the 920 has a conventionally-sized 8.7MP CMOS. Nokia is still making big claims about the 920's camera capabilities, it has a Carl Zeiss-branded lens featuring ‘floating lens technology’ image stabilization, prompting claims of better low-light performance than other smartphones. The Lumia 920 and the co-announced Lumia 820 both run on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system – an improvement over the Symbian model on the Nokia 808, which we gave our Gold Award to in our July review.

The Lumia 920 uses a 8.7MP 1/3"-type sensor (around 5x3.5mm), which is fractionally larger than the image projected by the lens. The camera then uses sub-sets of the sensor area to give either 8MP crops in the standard 4:3 aspect ratio or 7.1MP to give a widescreen 16:9 image. This method means the 16:9 image is larger than if it'd been cropped from a 4:3 sensor. The final images retain the same diagonal angle-of-view, which means the 16:9 crop is wider than the 4:3 one (its horizontal angle of view being more like a 26mm equivalent lens, while the 4:3 crop gives the horizontal angle-of-view of a 28mm equivalent lens). This same technique has been used by several Panasonic cameras, including the DMC-LX7.

Espoo, Finland and New York, NY - Nokia today announced the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Nokia Lumia 820, the first devices in Nokia's Windows Phone 8 range.

The Nokia Lumia 920 is the flagship Windows Phone 8 smartphone, including the latest advances in Nokia PureView imaging innovation. Using advanced floating lens technology, the camera in the Nokia Lumia 920 is able to take in five times more light than competing smartphones without using flash, making it possible to capture clear, bright pictures and video indoors and at night. It also compensates for hand movement while the photo is being taken.

"Nokia PureView continues to deliver cutting-edge technology to make it possible for a smartphone camera to take the kind of images usually only seen on a standalone SLR camera," said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices. "With the Nokia Lumia 920 we have made it possible to shoot pictures and video at home, outdoors, in a restaurant or even at night, and come out with professional-looking results."

"We view imaging as a core area for differentiation in the smartphone space," said Crawford Del Prete, Executive VP WW Products and Chief Research Officer, IDC. "Low light photography has been a weak point for smartphones. Nokia has addressed this with PureView to create real customer value. By applying its rich expertise in imaging Nokia has created a best of breed experience for everyday use."

The Nokia Lumia 920 also comes with Nokia City Lens, the latest addition to the Nokia location suite. By pointing the camera at a city street, City Lens overlays information about restaurants, shops, hotels and more on the surfaces of buildings, for the most intuitive way to explore surroundings. Nokia City Lens is the start of a new augmented reality experience that also enhances Nokia Maps, making it possible to move between maps view and augmented reality view to help people check their direction and surroundings. Along with enhancements to Nokia Drive and Nokia Transport, the Nokia location suite of services represents the most comprehensive, integrated mapping experience of any smartphone.

The Nokia Lumia 920 also comes with Nokia's largest ever battery (2000mAh) and, for the first time, built-in wireless charging for an easy, convenient way to get more out of every day.

The Nokia Lumia 820

The Nokia Lumia 820 is a stylish, mid-range smartphone that delivers high-end performance in a compact package.

While the Nokia Lumia 820 has the same unibody look and feel as the high end Lumia smartphones, it comes with an exchangeable shell design. Exchangeable shells not only make it possible to select from a range of colors, but also to add wireless charging. Beneath the shell is room to insert a micro SD memory card.

Powered by Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone 8 provides a more personal smartphone experience, with a start screen that can be more easily rearranged to reflect individual priorities and new animated Live Tiles for real-time updates on the things that matter most. The ability to sync content between Windows Phone 8 smartphones, Windows 8-based PCs and tablets or Xbox means files, music, pictures and video can be accessed in whichever way is most convenient. With Internet Explorer 10 for faster, safer browsing and Microsoft Office apps built into the platform, Windows Phone 8 is also the easiest way for getting things done.

Wireless charging partners

Nokia also announced a range of wireless charging accessories and partnerships. The Fatboy Recharge Pillow provides a fun way to recharge, while JBL introduced the JBL PowerUP, a wireless charging docking station with high quality audio in retro styling.

Deals with Virgin Atlantic to put wireless charging stations in the London Heathrow Clubhouse lounge and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to put charging plates on tables in some of their cafés, were the first of many deals Nokia intends to sign to take wireless charging outside the home and office.

Availability

Both phones will be available in pentaband LTE and HSPA+ variants and are expected to start shipping in select markets later in the year. Nokia will announce pricing and specific roll-out dates country by country when sales are due to begin.

Comments

I have be disappointed with my last 2 nokia phones. The N900 which had a great camera but lousy everything else. And now the Lumia 800 which has great hardware and a buggy OS and a real lousy camera. Also no windows 8 support which we were led to believe was a possibility only to be told by Microsoft no go.

I do not believe a word Nokia says any more as each "top of the range" phones have gone backwards.

Interesting that you find WP7.5 buggy. I've been using WP as my main phone for over one and a half year now, and I've never had as smooth or stable a experience with a mobile device before. It's certainly no worse than my Ipad 3.

How can you say that about the N900? The Nokia N900 is a true Linux mini computer in your pocket with excellent hardware features and built like a tank.That you can put a SIM in it to call or 3G is a bonus over the previous NIT (Nokia Internet Tablet).I strongly recommend you to educate yourself more in dept on what you are about to purchase next time.If there is any reason to be disappointed by the N900 is the fact that it did will never see a real successor with lots of RAM thanks to Microsofts infiltration.

OK once all the updates where run the phone was more stable and is now stable. But Mango does not support phone tethering ( Use Phone as Modem). No VPN connection , No remote desktop , and a degraded navigation system. I travel with a camera , Lumia 800 , for phone and a Nokia C5 for navigation. So as a camera its no good and pretty useless at a lot of other things. It does have a wonderful feel and look to it and one of the best displays around.

"Mango does not support phone tethering ( Use Phone as Modem). No VPN connection , No remote desktop , and a degraded navigation system."

Wrong. This comment is sent from my laptop while it is thetered wirelessly to my Mango WP 7.5 phone. I use the app PC remote Pro to RDP to my Machines. And the navigation in Nokia Drive which is free is better than paid options on other phones.So its not as bad as you make it look

While its 100% true that those images were taken with OIS on and OIS off, its like shooting a video where a tiger devours a person in the jungle because he was carrying brand B's lighter in his pocket and then showing someone else who wasn't devoured with Brand A. The obvious conclusion is that is must be the brand of lighter you buy that prevents you from being devoured.

I would not call them cheat just base on that. The van has to be there to shot a scene including both the bikers.

They clearly took 2 separate shots as the actress is doing different moves. Same for the merry-go-round, so it is quite possible that one was took with and one without OIS. But having said that, I am sold on the video quality even if there were no OIS.

@joe6pack Why does the van have to be there? They don't have the money to shot two different scenes? Come on now...

And besides, it's al over the internet now. It's not the first company misleading in an ad, but someone was stupid enough to make it obvious.

Take a final look at this image: i45.tinypic.com/244b5ud.jpg

Keeping the angle in mind, the space between the girl and the camera (very close), there is no way there is some guy on a bike around, filming and showing this particular scene. The guy in the van is filming and Nokia is pretending it is the guy on the bike.

"Note: The Lumia 920 pictures in this post were taken using prototype hardware and software, and then reduced dramatically in size. In addition, the OIS video, above, was not shot using the Lumia 920."

I have to say, Windows Phone 8 looks absolutely gorgeous (and that Nokia isn't bad either). I’m typing this on a Mac, but I like the look of Microsoft’s new operating system. What a difference from the ghastly amateurism of the Windows 7 user interface.

I have no idea if it works well, of course, but the new design is very beautiful.

peevee1 - that said: Most worthy apps are iOS only. Android is screwed as well. If you really need some specialized apps there's only one place to look at: Apple. Otherwise it doesn't matter much if you dig through garbage on Google Play or missing 1000+ fart apps on Microsoft Store.

Exactly, even though I have multiple Android tablets and two Android phones, they are quite bad until ICS (no JB for me yet). The "usable" Android is Froyo. Mango is smooth and stylish. Not a copycat of iOS. Yes, I have a 4S too.

When one chooses a phone, it's as much the ecosystem as the phone that one is choosing. I have an iPhone and I have a lot of apps that I use most days. It hardly ever goes wrong. It 'just works'. Before going to another OS I would need to look carefully to see whether it has apps to replace the ones I depend on, and if I jumped I would be throwing away the apps I have bought and I'd need to rebuy them in the new OS. Apple would need to foul up seriously before I would do that. Also, I don't think I've ever seen a Nokia phone that has the build quality and design quality of an iPhone. I have spent twenty years loathing Microsoft, and I am not alone in this. I am very pleased to have escaped the Windows world by buying Macs, I would be very reluctant to buy a phone with a Microsoft OS.

“It’s impossible for a camera with a fixed aperture of f/2 to generate so many spikes from a light source. These kind of diffractions are typical of a DLSR camera with a smaller aperture like f/22. So, it makes perfect sense that if Nokia were to fake the video, they would also fake the stills; which they almost certainly have,” Sarhan explains."

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